Whirlpool
by Strongarm
Summary: "They actually, finally had a chance to end this once and for all! It all changed when Bee fell." - the smokebee soulmates au I've been wanting to write for ages but never got around to doing. One shot.
1. Chapter 1

They were winning.

Against all odds, _they were winning._ The Decepticon warship was practically a flying fortress as it was, regardless of the various Vehicons milling about making life harder for them. The phase shifter, of course, made things far easier for the Autobots, and as Smokescreen raced to find the Star Sabre that was one of the many thoughts racing through his mind. They actually, finally had a chance to end this once and for all!

It all changed when Bee fell.

The yellow scout had managed to take three shots to the chest before the Omega Lock claimed him, and all the bots were left in shock because...well, it was Bumblebee! He'd managed to survive Tyger Pax and Unicron and _Earth,_ there was no way he could be gone!

And then everything started to fade to grey and he understood.

* * *

You see, when you meet your soulmate, the change isn't an instantaneous thing. It isn't like the movies where you make eye contact with 'the One' and the world explodes into light and colour that you've never seen before.

The brightness doesn't develop all of a sudden – it's like falling in love. A slow, gentle thing that isn't really distinguishable until it hits you with the force of a truck.

The variety of colour on earth didn't really sink in until later, when he could fully appreciate the range in which the flowers came and the ridiculously fast cars were painted in (because damn wouldn't he look good in that shade of blue). He didn't appreciate the paint of his intended until he saw Optimus slowly fading away and _oh gods he shouldn't be turning that colour_ _what was happening._ He only noticed the change when he went up to the surface, and when the gang got back together he started to wonder about _who._

It couldn't be Optimus – he died for a solid few seconds and the flare from the Forge was bright enough to blind him. Plus, you know, he was the Prime. He already had a bondmate.

Ratchet was a definite no, as were Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack – they showed up too late for it to be either of them.

Humans? Probably not.

So he had it narrowed down to three bots (because after the Omega key incident there was no way in hell he was going near a 'con). Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Brushing it off as the scavenger hunt dragged on and their battles grew more intense.

* * *

He'd picked the brightest alt he could just because he could, and pretended not to notice how Bee' optics flickered over his frame.

He pretended not to notice Arcee's concerned, almost sisterly look, or Bulkhead's short, sharp bark of laughter.

He left the room more confused than he'd ever been, determined to bury it down deep until the war was over.

* * *

It wasn't uncommon for bots from the younger generation of Cybertronians to...explore how they felt with one another, and because most were about as observant as a pile of bricks, attempts at flirting with one another often went unnoticed.

Or so Smokescreen hoped.

Gods, he really should have kept his mouth shut in Texas.

He found himself saying that again after he managed to not only put his foot in his mouth but managed to spectacularly fuck up whatever friendship he may have had with Bee.

After apologising profusely for what he'd said, he might've managed to earn his way into Bumblebee's good graces again (he was smiling again, that had to mean something, right?) and then messed up.

Again.

By losing their only medic to Soundwave of all people.

It all came to a head faster than he could manage or process. The madness of the battle practically washed him away, and all thoughts of connecting with whoever he was meant to spend the rest of his life with were forgotten.

But the second Bee made contact with the lock, he _knew_.

* * *

 **Hey! This is my first sorta shippy fic here, and my first oneshot, so maybe leave some reviews? This pairing needs all the love it can get (and from far more talented writers than me, I threw this together in like half an hour so please ignore all errors). I haven't forgotten about Eye of the Storm! It's exam season now so I'm using writing for stress relief but I'm not sure where that fits in (it is a priority though)**


	2. Possible multichapter fic?

**Ok so I know I said this would be a one shot but school is over for the summer and I can finally focus on writing so I wanted to see how you'd feel about a multichapter RID AU? I'll leave a little sample here and see how you feel about the first chapter (which is a work in progress so don't be surprised if I change some things here and there)**

* * *

Smokescreen was dealing as well as he could. I mean, it wasn't like his best friend and roommate had disappeared into a spacebridge with no warning (and a _hijacked_ spacebridge at that) and the council had put out a bounty on him that they had yet to rescind despite Jazz vouching for him. No, that would be just absurd. And despite Jazz's reassurances he couldn't help but worry for the closest friend he had.

After Bee's…..incident with the spacebridge the elite guard had been roped into guarding the museums working artefacts (none of which were really _that_ dangerous but hey, orders are orders). So far the most dangerous thing to break in was a wannabe criminal whose worst crime (barring that incident) was graffiti. But now she was back, and had apparently learned from her mistakes and brought backup.

The first thing he noticed were the lights. Then, the fact that somehow the alarms systems were down and that a certain artefact had been taken. Then it was the voices.

"I really don't like doing this and I know that this is your brother we're talking about but don't you think we could do something a little more legal like buying a ship or hiring someone to take us to him because this is breaking and entering and I really don't think you need that on your record and even though I know you care about him a lot don't you think this is taking things a bit too far-" Primes long gone, did this person know how to breathe? Pressing himself against the wall, Smokescreen waited for the perfect moment to enter.

And 'Cee said he didn't learn anything on earth. Hmph.

* * *

 **Again, this is just a sample, so please comment what you think and tell me who you think the two unnamed characters are! I hope you all have a great summer!**


End file.
